Tell Me
by NinMandi
Summary: How Luke and Angela really started their lives together.  Luke/Angela.  Rated "T" for safety, but is subject to change in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note/Disclaimer: **I do not own _Harvest Moon, Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, _or _Harvest Moon: Animal Parade_, its characters or franchise; those belong to Marvelous Interactions/Natsume. I also do not own any part of "Tell Me" by White Lion, including the lyrics or song title; those belong to White Lion, obviously. Also, in this story I refer to the mainland as Castanet. I understand that in Animal Parade the place where your character lives is called Castanet, and that in essence it's the same as Waffle Island from Tree of Tranquility. While this is so, keep in mind that the Castanet in this story is _not _the same as Waffle Island, meaning the characters and shops featured on the actual Animal Parade Castanet will not be featured in this Castanet (did that make sense?); this story is more along the lines of Tree of Tranquility. Thanks!

"_We held each other tight, and ran away into the night, oh baby you were so afraid."_

-White Lion, "Tell Me"

Everyday her belly become rounder. Each morning she would stand sideways in front of her full-body mirror and sigh, knowing she could not keep this secret from her parents for much longer. _Great, just graduated high school four months ago and now I'm knocked up._ Luke promised her he had a plan, but she still worried.

"Don't worry about it baby," he smiled. "I'll take care of you."

"You make it sound so easy." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey, nothing is easy about this situation. But since I'm…well, figuring out a solution, we'll be fine in no time." He grinned, and she sighed. To make the situation worse, Angela's parents absolutely abhorred Luke, claiming he was just another wild-child good looking boy who will enter Angela's life and leave it just as easily. They claimed he wasn't reliable, wasn't responsible, and thus wasn't worth her time. They had big ambitions about Angela's future: she would go off to college, just like her parents, become successful, _then _settle down to an equally educated and accomplished husband, period, end, no more discussion. But as many in the real world would vouch, sometimes life doesn't go the way you expected it, and Angela hadn't just become impregnated with Luke's baby, but had fallen fast and hard for him.

"Luke, damn it…" she buried her face into her palms, her unbalanced hormones once again getting the better of her. Tears began to drip from the small part between her fingers. He came up, and wrapped his arms around his grieving partner, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Hey, have I ever made a promise I couldn't keep?" she shook her head against his shoulder. "Then just leave everything to me." He planted a kiss to her temple.

It wasn't until a month later, Angela's stomach growing each day, her wardrobe of baggy clothing lax, that she heard a ladder click against her bedroom window, midnight. She didn't know what to make of it at first—_Damn! I'm gonna get murdered!_—until she saw Luke's head emerge over the window sill. He tapped on the glass, and she made her way, as quickly as she possible could, and opened the window.

"Luke! What on earth are you doing here?"

"I'm here to get you." Dumbfounded, Angela couldn't respond. "We're leaving this town for Waffle Island."

_Waffle Island? Oh Luke…_Angela knew all too well about Waffle Island. A pleasant oasis of an island, though with its share of difficulties, still a nice place to live or visit. However, it was also the same place Luke ran away from, away from his father whom he had become estranged from in Luke's brief two-year run on Castanet. Luke had wanted to do something other than becoming a carpenter, wanted more than what the struggling island had to offer, but his father completely disapproved, telling Luke that if he left he couldn't come back.

"Why Waffle Island?"

"Because I know the place and it seems the cheapest location to get away from your parents." Luke knew all too well how Angela's parents felt about him, that he was holding their daughter back.

"But your father…"

"Hey, no matter what he says, I know he'll let me resume my position at his shop. Besides, it's obvious that my employment status isn't much to behold on Castanet, and I need to take care of you and our child."

Tears began to well up in Angela's eyes, and she couldn't help but let them spill over. She leapt (or how much a pregnant women could) into Luke's arms, wrapping her own around his neck, driving her stomach into his. He would never admit this to anyone, as in Luke's opinion it sounded kind of cheesy, but he loved the feeling of his unborn child inside Angela's stomach. Not that he didn't want the baby to never be born, but still. "Come on," he pulled away from her lovingly. "You gotta pack. We leave tomorrow at noon. I bought the ticket for that time since I figured you couldn't make it down a ladder from a second-story window. Just give me your bag now, and we'll meet at the dock tomorrow."

_This is mad! This is wild! This is so much like Luke_. Nodding, she ran over to her closet, pulled out a beat-up old duffle bag, and began stuffing clothes into it.


	2. Chapter 2

The lost and expecting couple were forced to reside in a hotel by the name of the Sundae Inn for nearly two weeks. Luke was dragging his feet about announcing to his father his return to the island, and what's more the child he and his unwed girlfriend was expecting, but their funds, which were slim to begin with, were growing even smaller with the payments of the hotel room.

"Luke," Angela whispered over breakfast, "you need to tell him soon, before we're thrown to the streets." The dining room was pretty empty in the humble inn, and the employees were close enough by to ease drop. Although Angela's attempts at discreetness were probably futile, since the whole island was talking about their predicament. Nevertheless, their current situation with money and shelter definitely needed addressing.

"I know, I know, I'll get around to it soon."

"But you've been saying that since we got here!" Chalk it up to hormones or stress, either way Angela couldn't stop herself from raising her voice. "Where are we going to raise this child, on the benches in the town proper?"

He was startled by her sudden outburst. Though she's yelled at him before (being late to pick her up for a date, forgetting their anniversary since dating, the list goes on) she never had with such passion. He wasn't angry in response, as some might have been, but felt a deep sense of sympathy instead. After all, it was he who dragged her to this island, who knocked her up, who promised her a better life for their budding family, but he had yet to even start on any of those promises. _She's been patient enough, probably more than she should have been._

"No, Angela, that's not what I promised. I swear I'll talk to him, as soon as his shop opens. And with that being said," he wiped his mouth with his napkin and gave her a kiss on her head before exiting through the front doors. Her eyes were so moist that the light illuminating from the ceiling chandeliers reflected severely in them, so much so that the hotel patrons thought it best not to go over to her table quite yet, unless she called.

His breath was caught in his throat as he looked towards the green door of his father's carpentry shop, the dinky sign that hung from a nail reading "Open".

He willed himself at last to descend the stairs and push open the door, the familiar sound of the bell that hung above the entrance ringing. Usually his father cheerfully welcomed any potential customers who walked through his door, but this time, without looking up, he didn't say a word, only looked gruff.

Hesitant. "Pop?"

"Luke. Thought you left for the big city to make something of yourself." _Because helping your father out with the family business wasn't good enough for you_ is what his father's face really said. Luke swallowed hard.

"I kind of succeeded at that."

"Oh really? How so?"

"Well, I knocked up my girlfriend of roughly over a year." He said this in one breath, wincing at the anticipation of his father's reaction, which was well justified. His leapt to his feet, a volcanic eruption in the process. His face flared, his eyes bugged out as he stomped his way from across the room to where Luke stood. _Oh boy, here it comes_. And it did: after a swift fist to the side of Luke's face, his father shoved him against the front door, gripping onto his collar for dear life.

"_You what!_" He screamed into his son's face. Regardless of his father's fearful rampage, Luke never wavered in looking his father in the eye.

"Yes Dad, I did."

"And you just _left_ her on Castanet?"

Puzzlement spread across Luke's confident features. "What? No, I brought her here with me. She's at the Sundae Inn."

His father's stranglehold on his son's shirt loosen significantly, his chiseled features along with it. "You did?"

"Well yeah! You didn't think I would honestly leave her on Castanet did you?" But the bewildered look on Dale's face said otherwise. _Sheesh Pop, have a little more faith in me_.

"Then what is it that you want?" He turned away, heading back to his work table.

"A job. And a Blue Feather, particularly Mom's, and I know you still have it."

His face was stunned once again. If not for the dire circumstances, Luke would have found his father's obviously and comically expressed discomfort as humorous. But things were anything but funny, and Luke stood his ground and ignored the throbbing pain his father had inflicted on his cheek. He was a man, and a soon to be father and, hopefully, husband. With these certainties hanging over his head, he could no longer go running off to the forest with his axe when times got tough.

After paying the breakfast bill, Angela continued to sit at her and Luke's table. Business wasn't exactly booming, so there was no need to rush her off. Plus, Angela was anxious to hear how Luke's father reacted to their predicament. _Maybe I should've gone with him_ she thought, but doubted Luke would have allowed that, seeing how he described his father as being "fisty" (not "feisty", but "fisty"). So she waited, and thought back to that night two weeks ago.

She was so excited, to be freed of her parents' intellectual tyranny, to be with someone who loved her enough to confront his father with the situation (little did she know it wouldn't happen for two weeks). She felt empowered, like a true adult. She remembered the story she cooked up for her parents.

"Mom, Dad," she announced to them as they watched educational television in their quaint and tidy living room. "I'm heading out to meet some friends. Be back later."

With no protestation from the parentals, she fled out the door and met Luke at the docks, high noon, he holding his own bag and her own, smiling that same goofy and carefree grin she loved so much. Hand and in hand, we handed the captain our tickets and found a nice, cozy spot to snuggle while we waited out the four hour long boat ride. Everything seemed easy enough, but she feared her parents would discover the letter she left them on her bedroom desk, explaining why she left and where she would be, and come to spirit her away.

However, it had been two weeks already, plenty of enough time to at least contact her, but nothing from her parents came. No "Missing Person" flyers, no phone calls, no letters or a visit. While she was prepared and looking forward to her new life with Luke, it still stung that neither one took it upon themselves to check up on her. _I bet if, instead, I was away at college neither one would leave me alone with visits and phone calls_.

The doors of the inn flew open, and Angela straightened up in her seat. But instead of Luke, it was a stout man with curly graying hair and a happy disposition on his face. He scanned the dining room until his eyes fell onto me; his grin only grew as soon as he spotted me.

"Ah," he said, waddling over to my table, "You must Angela, right? Lover to our dear Luke?"

"Yes," I was a little more than flustered at being approached. Usually the rumors she overheard from the other island inhabitants referred to her as "Luke's Baby Momma", never did any of them call her by her name. "Who…are you?"

"Why, I am Mayor Hamilton, leader of the peaceful Waffle Island." _Leader? This goofy and flamboyant little man? Maybe Luke and I should move somewhere else…_

"It's nice to meet you, sir." She responded politely before resting her chin on her hands.

"Don't look so glum my dear, I have a brilliant proposition for your delicate situation." This caught her attention, and she immediately lifted her head attentively.

"You do?"

"Yes! You see, I've sent a number of flyers to your home town of Castanet in hopes of finding a rancher to help restore our island to its former glory. Sadly, I had no respondents. The deal comes with a free and freshly built house, along with some land for crops or animals, perfect for a _new family…"_

She caught his drift, and perked up even more before shouting "Sold!" _Wait till Luke hears about this! Screw his dad, we can get a _free _house by just growing a few measly crops and raising a chicken or two. This'll be cake._

Ah, the lackadaisical ignorance of youth…


End file.
